The 'River of Dreams' hitmaker experimented with the deadly narcotic once, but got so ''wasted'', he was too afraid to try it again.

Recalling his experience, he said: ''This was back in the late '70s I think. We were in Amsterdam, and there was all this stuff going on, so I said, 'Let me see what this is like'.

''It got me so high, I didn't know how to deal with it. You just get way out, just go to another place, and you're into the blues. All you want to hear is the blues. You start drooling, and you get sick.''

The 64-year-old singer - who is nicknamed The Piano Man - admitted his decision not release new music has baffled his peers.

Speaking to Howard Stern at The Cutting Room in New York's Midtown, he said: ''Everybody has a hard time understanding that: 'Why don't you write new songs?' ''Elton [John] would say that to me: 'Why don't you make another album?' And I used to say to him, 'Why don't you make less albums?' ''

The 'Billy Joel Town Hall' event saw the 'Uptown Girl' singer answer questions from the DJ and fans including TV stars Rachael Ray and Matt Lauer, and also featured musical guests, with Melissa Etheridge playing a cover of his track 'Only the Good Die Young'.

Billy teamed up with Pink to duet on 'She's Always a Woman', and Tony Bennett closed the show with a rendition of 'New York State of Mind'.